Allen joins elite list of first-team honorees from Hawai’i

The University of Hawai’i basketball team has had 21 All-Conference first team selections in its 38 seasons of conference affiliation (33 in the Western Athletic Conference, five in the Big West Conference).

Noah Allen is now the first Warrior to earn the honor in his first – and only – season in a Hawai’i uniform.

Allen, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, was one of six players named to the All-Big West Conference first team on Monday. He leads the Warriors in scoring (15.5), rebounding (5.9) and steals (1.1). In conference games only, Allen led the entire Big West in scoring with 18.5 points per game, including four games of 30 points or more.

In three previous seasons at UCLA, Allen averaged 1.2 points and 1.2 rebounds per game as a reserve player. He transferred to Hawai’i prior to this season as a graduate student.

“Noah Allen, such a great story,” Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot said. “I’ve talked about how difficult it is to make the transition he has had to make from a role player to a leading role. To see him do that so quickly and then handle the things he had to go through late in his career, in terms of getting scouted (and) adversity.

“He’s incredibly versatile. In addition to being one of our better solid defenders, and one of our better passers, but a variety of ways to score. When he made his biggest move in conference was when he used his full arsenal.”

Johnson is averaging 11.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and leads the team with a .508 field goal percentage. “Just impressed with the way Gibson … he’s probably been our most consistent player, giving you 12 (points) a game and 5 boards a game as a first year guy,” Ganot said.

Purchase is averaging 9.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and ranks second in the Big West with 72 3-pointers. His 72 3s are already the seventh best single-season total in UH history. “Jack Purchase, I’ve said all along, when you’re probably the premier shooter and passer at your position, he does a lot of things for our program,” Ganot said. “Even spreading the floor and his understanding of our concepts defensively.”

In five seasons of affiliation with the Big West Conference, Hawai’i has now had six first-team All-Big West selections. The previous selections were Christian Standhardinger twice (2013 and 2014), Isaac Fotu (2014), Stefan Jankovic (2016) and Roderick Bobbitt (2016). Prior to joining the Big West, Hawai’i had 15 first-team All-WAC selections in 33 seasons with the WAC.

In addition to joining the elite list of first-team All-Conference honorees from Hawai’i, Allen joined an even shorter list of conference scoring champions from UH.

Here is the list of UH players who led the conference in scoring:

All Games
Ray Reed (1990-91 WAC), 19.2 points per game
Phil Lott (1991-92 WAC), 18.5 points per game
Anthony Harris (1995-96 WAC), 22.4 points per game

Conference Games Only
Anthony Harris (1995-96 WAC), 23.1 points per game
Noah Allen (2016-17 Big West), 18.5 points per game